Quality Engineer II - Geneva, IL

Job description

COMPANY OVERVIEW We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one another and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.​ POSITION OVERVIEW The Quality Engineer II is the technical leader related to the product, championing food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements throughout the system or platform you are assigned to, driving problem-solving and improvements in food safety, quality, and related losses. You have the unique opportunity to impact the innovation, technology, and quality function by leveraging your knowledge and skills to provide deep technical expertise, become a leader of global connections, and be recognized as a valued partners for their plant, sourcing, and business teams. In this role, you will use data and systems, apply continuous improvement techniques, and serve as a coach and technical leader on the floor and within the business teams you partner with for their systems, demonstrating and embracing engaging leadership behaviors. Click here to learn more about the Geneva plant KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES Safety (5%) Lead food and human Safety through Safety 2.0 leadership principles and standards. Cultivate a human safety culture that reduces risk to our people and communities by increasing capability to discuss, identify, and control critical risk. Cultivate a food safety culture that is committed to manufacturing safe food that is compliant with policy and regulatory requirements. People Leadership (25%) Invest in personal development & growth in quality engineering and beyond. Partner with cross-functional teams to continuously reduce risk, improve processes and quality, and sustainably reduce FSQ-related losses, instilling a strong food safety and quality culture in their assigned systems or platform. Engage internally and externally with subject matter experts. Train, develop content, and coach Quality Associates, Quality Engineers, and plant personnel in areas of expertise. Enable alignment and strategies with cross-functional partners in own systems or platform. Potential to manage quality technician teams. Process Leadership and Ownership (35%) Food safety, quality & regulatory programs leadership. Provide FSQ leadership and direction through technical depth in the areas of regulatory compliance, sanitation, food safety risk mitigation, quality improvement, and loss reduction in own systems or platform Organize action plans with Operations, R&D, Engineering, and FSQ teams to ensure product specifications and execution of FSQ policies & standards are appropriate and meet system capability and key consumer requirements in their systems or platform. Lead the FSRA program in your own systems/platform by conducting food safety & sanitation inspections, providing leadership in RMP (Risk Management Plans) initiatives and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) as part of the verification program. Lead continuous improvement in the site’s GFSI certification for your dedicated system/line. Assess risk and make decisions related to food safety and quality for ingredients and finished products that pertain to their systems or platform. Spend time on the production floor, connect with employees, interact with the product transformation, feeling the real-time impact of their work in the finished product. Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory technical leadership & subject matter expertise. Provide support for food safety and quality program management and training in own systems or platform. Deliver training in the areas of food science, applied statistics, regulatory requirements, sanitation, and quality measurement systems. Review plans for new and changing systems and ensure effective product safety and sanitary design. Provide leadership and technical support for R&D, Cost Savings, reformulations, and new product start-ups. Maintain plant food safety programs (FSRA, HACCP, etc.) and annual GFSI and GMI policy requirements. Responsible for management of raw material vendors and performance. Provide national accounts customer-facing support for food safety and quality audits and improvement. Provide sanitation and pest control leadership (equipment sanitation validation & run length validations, creation of SSOPs, pest control and chemical vendor relationships, and budget). Provide technical leadership in the identification and implementation of product and process quality improvement opportunities and productivity gains. Provide and lead risk assessment analysis and manage issues with non-conforming products and ingredients to ensure proper control, minimize losses, and root cause analysis to eliminate future occurrences in their systems or platform that pertain to their systems or platform. Problem Solving leadership Provide FSQ leadership and direction through technical depth in the areas of SPC, system capability, fishbone analysis & problem solving. Lead problem-solving events with cross-functional partners and use data to appropriately manage nonconformances and issues, prevent re-occurrence, improve product quality, reduce and eliminate risks & related losses, and run to target in own systems or platform. Daily Direction Setting and Operations Foundational Systems Engage in identification of loss opportunities (food safety, quality, overuse, etc.) to drive performance and influence loss reduction through corrective and preventative actions using foundation systems. Actively participate in daily direction setting and the creation and execution of the platform improvement plan. Know your Operation, Data and Technology (25%) Lead digitization initiatives, leveraging advanced technologies such as automation, data